More from Palmyra, New York

This is my family. My mom and dad, my brother Mike and his wife Jenny and their six kids, my brother Matt and his wife Michelle and their daughter, and me and Paul with our 4 kids. There was 19 of us all together for this wonderful trip that my parents gave to all of us.


This is a picture of all of the 11 grandkids, Andrew, Zachary, Alyssa, Tyler, Sariah, Brayden, Ammon, Ryan, Eden, Naomi, and Emma.


This is a picture of the barn behind the frame house.


This is a picture of the Cooper Shop, where they made barrels. Joseph Smith had hidden the plates in the floor and one day got a strong prompting to move the plates. He didn't know where to put them so for the moment he just took them out of the box they were in and set them up on a shelf. That night a mob came and took the place apart looking for the plates. The mob found the box under the floor boards but never saw the plates sitting on the shelf just above their heads.


My favorite place was The Sacred Grove. It truly is sacred. It feels like you are in the temple. It is peaceful and calm and beautiful.


This tree is called a "Witness Tree". It is old enough that it would have been alive during the First Vision. The beautiful thing about this tree is that its branches all point upward, as in worship.


This is another "Witness Tree", so many people have carved their names on it that it has died, but again notice that the branches all point upward.


I thought it would be good to take pictures of the kids praying in the Sacred Grove, so they let me have my wish.





That night we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We got there early enough to watch some of the rehearsal. And we got to meet some of the actors. The stage was amazing and there were some great special effects, mists of water and lots of fire.